Areas of Expertise

Bio

Flutist Sara Andon is an international soloist and recording artist known for her ravishing tone and deeply engaging musical interpretations. A versatile performer in many music genres including solo, chamber, symphonic, opera, ballet, new music, jazz and Broadway, she has performed all over the world in major concert venues, TV and radio broadcasts, as well as on many motion picture soundtracks, TV shows, documentaries and video game scores.

Ms. Andon has performed with several American orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Tulsa Opera, New West Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Kalamazoo Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Golden State Pops Orchestra, California Philharmonic, Pasadena Pops, New Haven Symphony, Orchestra New England, San Francisco Western Opera Theater, Miami City Ballet Touring Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She has worked with such world-renowned conductors as Kurt Masure, David Zinman, John Mauceri, Jorge Mester, Jeffrey Kahane and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Ms. Andon has performed in the orchestras for many Broadway musicals including Les Misérables, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast and the critically acclaimed hit show Wicked (L.A. Company).

Her countless film score recordings include Disney's newest "The Jungle Book Movie", "The Greatest Showman" with composers John Debney and Joseph Trapanese,and her flute solos can be heard in the newest thriller,"IT", music by Benjamin Wallfisch. She has recorded also for Brian Tyler's "Fast and Furious" 7 and 8, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"; John Powell’s "Rio 2"; Marco Beltrami’s "Wolverine", "Die Hard 5", "Trouble With The Curve" and "The Thing"; Rolfe Kent’s "Downsizing", "Mr. Popper’s Penguins", "Charlie St. Cloud", Lalo Schifrin’s "Rush Hour 3", James Newton Howard’s "The Bourne Legacy", Daft Punk’s "Tron", as well as several documentaries for National Geographic and others. Click here to see a day in the studio with the Hollywood Studio Symphony and Chorus.

Her recent recording work for video games includes the Grammy®-nominated blockbuster game Journey, along with World Of Warcraft, Star Craft II, WildStar, Horn, BioShock-Infinite, a new virtual reality game "TORN" and the new "Zoe" character for League Of Legends. She also records for many Disney projects including the Disneyland show Mickey’s Magical Map, Tokyo Disney "SEA", "RATATOUILLE" and Universal Studios Theme Park's Harry Potter Ride.

She can also be heard on many TV shows including "Star Trek Discovery", "The Orville", "Lucifer" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend". Andon also took part in composer Christopher Lennertz’s fund-raising recording and concert Symphony Of Hope: The Haiti Earthquake Relief Project, and has recently recorded with such varied artists as Placido Domingo; Daft Punk, including their Grammy®-winning album, Random Access Memories; Neil Diamond; Barry Manilow; and Billy Childs’ new album of Laura Nyro songs, also featuring Yo-Yo Ma and Renée Fleming.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Andon has performed throughout the United States, Italy, France, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, Spain and China including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall (NYC), St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, CBS Sunday Morning, Universal Amphitheater, Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Hall in L.A. As an international soloist Ms. Andon has performed the Macau Orchestra in China for "Hollywood Love Stories — Great Romantic Film Music" at the Venetian Macau Resort and also joined Varèse Sarabande’s series of concerts celebrating the label’s 35th anniversary, the largest film score label in the world.

Andon performs a selection of special commissions for solo flute, including Alex North’s Spartacus Love Theme, arranged for her by Lee Holdridge; new suites from Elmer Bernstein’s Ghostbusters (by Randy Edelman) and To Kill A Mockingbird (by Austin Wintory); and the first-ever symphonic setting of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas by William Ross, and many others. Andon has performed with both the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and also the Big Band de Canarias (for a tribute to composer Elmer Bernstein), as part of the Fimucité Festival. In addition, she has performed with Orchestra l’Autunno at Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s Transatlantyk Festival in Poznan, Poland and for the Krakow Film Music Festival in Poland for audiences exceeding 15,000, performing a new arrangement of the Alan Menken's music from the live action Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast", arranged by Michael Kosarin for Solo Flute, Choir and Orchestra, and also this performance with Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Beal for his new "Dovekeepers Suite for Flute and Orchestra" based on his score for the CBS mini-series - view here.

She has been a guest panelist at the Hollywood Music Workshop in Vienna, Austria for Composers led by legendary composer and orchestrator Conrad Pope and Robert Townson, Producer of Varese Sarabande Records, sharing wisdom about being a Los Angeles session musician and giving advice to composers about music prep for the session musicians to make the session time as efficient as possible, as well as on the topic of the "The After-Life of Film Music" as an international soloist for live concerts of film music. She was also a part of the Alagna International Chamber Music Festival in Italy with Van Cliburn award-winning pianist and Artistic Director, Simone Pedrone. Here is a video of a live performance there of the Poulenc Sonata for Flute and Piano.

Andon has many recordings from J.S. Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Schoenberg, Steven Stucky, Lalo Schifrin and beyond with many current contemporary composers such as Bevan Manson's California Concertino for Flute and Chamber Orchestra with the Hollywood Symphony - click here to hear the fifth and finale movement.

She has recorded with artists ranging from Placido Domingo to Neil Diamond, Big Band de Canarias to Daft Punk. She has also been a featured soloist at numerous music festivals including the Ojai Music Festival (CA), Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (CT), Grand Teton Music Festival (WY), Music at Penn’s Woods (PA), Sunriver Music Festival (OR), London Bach Festival & the Los Angeles Bach Festival and many film music festivals mentioned above. Other solo performances include “Sundays Live at Six” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, most recently with Sarah Jackson, flutist and piccoloist with the L.A. Philharmonic and Barry Gold, cellist with the L.A. Philharmonic, on an all-Haydn program, and on the “Jacaranda — Music At The Edge Series” in Santa Monica and Hear Now Contemporary Music Festival in Los Angeles. Ms. Andon was also invited to perform the Double Flute Concerto by Steven Stucky (Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and former New Music Consultant-L.A. Philharmonic) with world-renowned flutist Ransom Wilson at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Ms. Andon received her post-graduate Artist Diploma from Yale University studying with Ransom Wilson (international soloist and solo flutist with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society) and her Masters of Music in Flute Performance at USC studying with Janet Ferguson, Roger Stevens and weekly masterclasses with James Walker. all-former principal flutist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double concentration in Flute Performance and Music Education from California State University San Bernardino, studying with Candice Palmberg (sought-after soloist, clinician, orchestral, chamber musician). Other master classes include Julius Baker, Mindy Kaufman, Jeffrey Khaner, Marina Piccinini, Mark Sparks, Judy Mendenhall, Paula Robison, Walfrid Kujala, William Bennett, Emily Beynon and Jeanne Baxtresser.

She is Principal/Solo Flute of the Redlands Symphony, Ransom Wilson, Conductor and Artistic Director, and she has also been a featured soloist with them performing Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp, Griffes "Poem" for Flute and Orchestra and Barber’s Capricorn Concerto. Also, she performed as a featured soloist with the San Diego Symphony for the "Video Games Live" Concert at Comic-Con, and on the same concert also performed with the new video game cover band "Critical Hit." View Critical Hit video here.

Andon also recently performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the iconic composer and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and Diana Krawl. Andon is the solo flutist with the new contemporary music ensemble "Brightwork New Music," based in Los Angeles, consisting of solo flute, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion. Here is a Brightwork New Music Ensemble live performance at the Hear Now Music Festival in LA of Andrew Norman's "MINE, MIME, MEME".

She has also performed as principal flute with LA's Kaleidoscope "Conductorless" Chamber Orchestra and has a live performance video recording of Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun". View here.

In addition to being the Artist Teacher of Flute here at the University of Redlands School of Music, Ms. Andon is also the Flute Instructor at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, an international high school for the arts, and is an active clinician throughout southern California and worldwide.

Featured Soloist - Krakow Film Music Festival premiering the "House of Cards Fantasy" for Flute and Orchestra by Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal, and the "Ballet of Blades "for Flute and Orchestra by award-winning composer Austin Wintory from his music of Assassin's Creed Video Game at the 15,000 seat Tauron Arena. (May 2018)

Panelist - Krakow Film Music Festival - Varèse Sarabande Panel Recital and Discussion: "The Art of Inspiration", a fully improvised recital with flute, cello and piano and interactive painter, followed by a panel discussion. (May 2018)

Featured Soloist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra "MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES with SARA ANDON", performing music of Michel Legrand, Bernard Herrmann, Vince Guaraldi (December 2017)

Featured Soloist at Royce Hall at UCLA for Artist Drew Struzan 75 Birthday Tribute Concert with the Golden State Pops orchestra performing the American premiere of the "Beauty and the Beast" Suite for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Choir - Music of Alan Menken, arranged by Michael Kosarin (December 2017)

University of Redlands Faculty Showcase Concert featuring music of Mark Dancingers and Anthony Suter (September 2017)

Featured Soloist - Mt. Wilson Observatory Chamber Music Series - Solos Flute with String Trio, including Mozart: Flute Quartet in 'D' Major, Villa-Lobos: "The Jet Whistle" for Flute and Cello and transcriptions of John Williams and George Delerue for Flute and String Trio. (September 2017)

Featured Soloist -- Brightwork New Music Ensemble Concert at Monk's Space on the series "Tuesdays at Monk Space', Los Angeles, CA (June 2017)

Recording of "Legends of the Fall' by James Horner transcribed for Flute and Piano for the Krakow Film Music Festival CD - recorded with award-winning pianist Jean-michel Bernard at Capitol Records (May 2017)

Krakow Film Music Festival -- Featured Soloist performing the world premiere of the "Beauty and the Beast" Suite for Solo Flute, Orchestra and Choir - Music of Alan Menken, arranged by Michael Kosarin and John Williams: Princess Leia's Theme for Flute and Orchestra at the 15, 000 seat Tauron Arena (May 2017)

Featured Soloist - new CD of music of Lalo Schifrin recorded at Capitol Records with Lalo Schifrin, piano and Jean-michel Bernard, piano (April 2017)

Featured soloist - new album "1985 AT THE MOVIES" recorded at Fox Studios, David Newman Conducting the Hollywood Studio Orchestra, Flute Soloist on Georges Delerue: Agnus of God, John Corigliano: Revolution "A Children's Song" (Flute and Penny Whistle) and John Barry: View TO A Kill - Opening solo and Rock Flute Improvisation (April 2015)

Featured Soloist at the 100th Anniversary of ASCAP Gala Concert at the Krakow, Poland Film Music Festival with guest composers Hans Zimmer, Patrick Doyle, Elliot Goldenthal, and also a new video game chamber concert, performing new commissions (September 2014)

Guest Panelist at the "Hollywood Music Workshop for Composers" in Vienna, Austria (July 2014)

Featured Soloist with the Macau Orchestra in China, performing new commissions for the concert "Hollywood Love Stories" at the largest hotel in the World: Venetian Macau. Historic first film music concert in China (February 2013)

Featured Soloist at the International Film Music Festival "FIMUCITE" in Tenerife, Canary Islands of Spain with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Tenerife and the Big Band de Canarias performing new commissions (July 2013 and July 2014)

Featured Soloist at the Transatlanyk Film and Film Music Festival in Poznan, Poland, performing new commissions (August 2013)

Numerous solo and chamber recitals, flute studio classes, past and currently planned at the University of Redlands as well as the HEAR NOW Contemporary Music Festival in Los Angeles, Sundays Live at Six at LACMA, Jacaranda - Music at the Edge Series in Santa Monica, Brightwork New Music Ensemble, and many others.

Performance Videos

New Music for Flute and Cello by Brett Banducci - "Basque Suites" with Sara Andon, flute and Rainer Crosett, cello Live performance Video at LA's Sunset Chamber Music Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u0GMlUGItg